Charles McKee and Ron Sanders were partners for 22 years. The sign was unscrewed and given to them by a carpenter working on Wesley’s house at the corner of 3rd and North Streets in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Benedict A. “Wesley” Trautwein, a drag performer known as Francis Parker. Wesley was a part of the The Jewel Box Revue, a troupe of drag performers who traveled around the country from 1939 to 1969, which made many stops in Pennsylvania. After departing the Revue, he moved back to Harrisburg and continued preforming at local bars and clubs, such as The Neptune Lounge. Trautwein passed away in 2003.

Kirsten Backhaus-Smith, the daughter of Gunter Backhaus, served as the manager of The Loft and Tally Ho Tavern. The Tally-Ho Tavern, located at 201 W. Orange St., in Lancaster, Pennsylvania was bought by George Centini in 1966, but did not begin operating as a LGBTQ+ bar until 1968 when the Village Night Club closed. The bar became a target of anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric in mid-1980s as people began to complain about the noise and people gathering outside of the establishment. The bar and restaurant were sold by Centini in 1987 to Gunter Backhaus, a chef who had previously worked as the executive chef at the Grove Park Inn in Asheville, North Carolina and Host Farm Resort in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The tavern continued to operate throughout the 1990s, in 2008, the after-party for Lancaster’s inaugural Pride even took place at the Tally Ho. It remained in operation as a LGBTQ+ bar until 2020 with the onset of the COVID-

Terrence Dragovan and Thomas F. Grubic were a married couple in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. Thomas Grubic passed away in 2022. Grubic graduated from Bishop McDevitt High School in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania in 1967. Dragovan, a native of Steelton, Pennsylvania, also graduated from Bishop McDevitt High School and later Marshall University in 1984.

Don Haines was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where he lived until the age of 12. He then moved to the suburbs of Lancaster, remaining in Lancaster County. Still within Lancaster County, Haines later moved to Columbia, Pennsylvania with his partner. Haines came out at the age of 23 in 1987, a time he described as a “very oppressive” time. Haines was raised Roman Catholic but struggled with the church’s lack of acceptance, operating outside of the church until Pope Francis took charge. Haines graduated from Millersville University where he was a part of a gay and lesbian group. He worked for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, encouraged by Governor Schapp’s acceptance of gay people and the protection of a union.

Bradley “Brad” Gebhart, an active member in the arts scene in central Pennsylvania, serves on the board of the LGBT Center of Central PA as the Events Chair. In addition to his various roles in the community and professional work, Gebhart provided original cartoon drawings for the Central Voice.

Jeremy S. Boorum was born in 1997 in Rochester, New York. After completing his undergraduate education at Elmira College, Boorum briefly relocated to Central Pennsylvania in 2019 to begin a master’s degree in American studies at Penn State Harrisburg, and later returned in 2021 to pursue a doctoral education in the same department. As a doctoral student, Boorum became involved in the local LGBTQ+ community. During the Spring 2022 semester, Boorum led efforts to relaunch Pride at Penn State Harrisburg, the campus’s LGBTQ+ student organization, and served as the group’s president. Following his work with Pride, Boorum taught an undergraduate course about LGBTQ+ identity, culture, and the arts. Additionally, Boorum contributed to the LGBT Center of Central PA History Project and worked with the project’s archival collections at Dickinson College for two summers. Boorum continues to serve on the project’s steering committee.

Richard Lamar Schlegel was born in 1927 in Berrysburg, PA, a small borough in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. In 1949, he moved to Washington, D.C. where he pursued a master’s degree and later took a job in the federal government. His career ended in 1961 when he was fired for “immoral and indecent conduct” after being followed by secret investigators who investigated his personal life. Schlegel appealed his case, Schlegel vs. the United States, which went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court but was refused a hearing. LGBTQ+ activists and community members have repeatedly attempted to get Schlegel the recognition he deserves as a LGBTQ+ rights pioneer. In 2020, Schlegel was nominated for a Historical Marker in Pennsylvania to mark the historic event of Schlegel taking his case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. The marker was approved and installed in Harrisburg near the Pennsylvania capitol, outside Schlegel’s former home, in October 2021. After receiving complaints, chiefly from State Senator John DiSanto, the Pennsylvania Historical Museum Commission voted to remove the marker on June 1, 2022, less than a year after its placement.

Tapestry Magazine, alternately known as Tapestry, Transgender Tapestry, The TV-TS Tapestry, and The Tapestry Journal throughout its history, was first published in the late 1970s. The publication appeared in a variety of formats until the early 2000s. The publication was founded by Merissa Sherrill Lynn and was published first by the Tiffany Club and later by the International Foundation for Gender Education, IFGE.

Carlisle Borough, located in south-central Pennsylvania in Cumberland County, was founded in 1751 and incorporated as a borough in 1782. Carlisle serves as the county seat of Cumberland County. It is home to the U.S. Army War College, Dickinson College, and Penn State Dickinson School of Law. Carlisle Borough hosted its first official Pride Week celebration in 2019. The Carlisle Anti-Discrimination Ordinance, also known as the Borough of Carlisle Human Relations Ordinance, was passed in December 2016. This ordinance established a Human Relations Commission and protection of LGBTQ+ community in the Borough, specifically when it comes to sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression.